Formula 1 - Обща дискусия

[host]

По-скоро разликата в точките 1-ви и 2-ри скача.

[evil_smith]

Болида от 2007 е по случай 25 години Рено в F1 и е специално само за фотосесията боядисан, защото ING не са разрешили заместване фирмените им цветове въпреки изписване на съкращението и логото им - още тогава беше ясно, че има разрив между тях

 

1977 - 2007 - честваха 30 години. То и на болида си го пише, ама кой да гледа.

 

Пожелавам им 2037 да отпразнуват 60 годишнина, за да видят колко горди бяхме миналата година.

[host]

Извинявам се, действително моя грешка - има кой да гледа, наистина не знам защо грешно съм го написал.

 

_______________________

 

А някъде качват ли тренировките или да ги излъчват лайв?

[DON_CHEFO]

Опитвам се да си представя какво е да носиш всички точки за тима(Уилямс), със съотборник жълто камикадза.....и година по-късно да ти свият сърмите и да те пребият като куче...и то от пилот дето 3 години си е вял патката хахаха.

[DON_CHEFO]

Както е тръгнало има силна вероятност српската република да си има собствен тим във Ф1...Каква ирония

[vinyl_master]

Тестове на Херес 10.02.2010

 

1 ROSBERG 1:20.927

2 BUEMI 1:21.031

3 HULKENBERG 1:22.243

4 ALONSO 1:22.895

5 KOBAYASHI 1:23.287

6 BUTTON 1:24.947

7 LIUZZI 1:24.968

8 PETROV 1:25.440

9 WEBBER 1:26.502

10 GLOCK

 

Резултати на живо

 

Резултати Български сайт

 

Или хубаво или нищо за човека Рос Браун! Като гледам колата и като се сетя за другия пилот, на каря на сезона може да се прекръсти на 8 кратния...

Edited February 10, 2010 by vinyl_master

[DON_CHEFO]

How Michael Schumacher became

the biggest name in motorsport

 

23 December 2009 | By David Cushnan

 

In one of the most remarkable sporting comebacks of recent times, seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher will race in the 2010 Formula One world championship, three years after retiring from the sport. First published in 2006, following his retirement, this is the story of how Schumacher got where he is today.

The German, who will be 41 when the new season begins in March, has signed a contract worth €7 million to drive for the Mercedes GP team. Confirmation of his return came after months of increasingly frenzied speculation and marks the resumption of a remarkable career.

There is a general belief that to succeed in motor racing today a driver must have well-heeled parents. But Schumacher was an exception. In fact, when he started out some, his outlook couldn't have been worse as his family was almost below the breadline. Luckily his father, Rolf, was good with his hands and mechanically astute. It saved his day.

The only car Rolf Schumacher could ever afford to buy his son relied on pedals for its propulsion. Like many young boys, Michael Schumacher, as a three-year-old, had a pedal go-kart. And there it might have ended had his father Rolf not been a bit of a tinkerer. More for his own amusement than anything else, he found an old scooter two-stroke engine and installed it into his son's pedal go-kart. He remembers: "That's the way it started."

His son drove the crude and rather noisy go-kart in the local park, until he was ejected by the park-keeper. Then, much to the annoyance of the local residents, he took to the street pavements, before crashing the kart into a lamppost after failing to negotiate one of the innumerable pavement obstacles. Then the looming imminent formation of a neighbours' lynch mob prompted his father to enrol him at the local karting track 10 kilometres away from the family home in Kerpen, west of Cologne.He became the club's youngest member, at five years old. Rolf scouted around and from old worn out parts he found at the club rubbish tip discarded by members he built Michael a kart fitted with a 100cc engine that he lovingly rebuilt. Even the tyres were acquired from the rubbish pile. But it was enough, and by age six Michael was club champion and beating all his rivals even with their proper new karts.

To take the next step, however, Schumacher needed 880 deutschemarks for a new engine, and this was not an option as Rolf barely had enough to feed his family.

But thanks to the buzz the young Schumacher had created at the Kerpen club, he found a sponsor in the shape of a carpet shop owner called Gerd Noack. Noack paid for the engine, but that was his limit. Fortunately, soon a richer sponsor came along, in the shape of fruit machine operator Jurgen Dilk.

Dilk was Michael Schumacher's fairy godmother. He paid for Schumacher's karting career for 10 years until he was 17 and left school. The sponsorship included new equipment. In return Dilk wanted to own Schumacher's trophies. Schumacher told him: "That's fine for me – I can drive and you get the trophies." Dilk also signed the young man up on a contract and became his de facto manager.

Dilk and Schumacher became extremely close travelling across Europe together to kart races. Dilk told Schumacher biographer, Tim Collings, about the day he found out his young driver was very special: "One day, in the German championship for juniors, Michael was leading, when, on the second lap he knew that he had a problem. He put his hand back onto the engine, where he felt he had a carburettor problem. He left his hand there for 18 laps, driving with one hand on the wheel, and he won the race. Afterwards, he told me what was wrong. Apparently there were two small screws loose on the fixing of the carburettor. It showed what a great feeling he had for engines." They were 10 extremely happy years, which probably cost Dilk US$100,000. But there were plenty of trophies, a collection today that would probably fetch US$2 million if he were to sell it.

Schumacher's 10 years with Dilk were hugely successful. He was German junior champion in 1984, at the age of 15, repeating the feat the following year, when he was also runner-up in the world championship. In 1986, aged 17, he was third in the German senior karting series and third also in the European series. In his last year of karting in 1987, aged 18, he was the German and European champion. But like so many future champions, he never landed the karting world championship.

When Schumacher turned 17, reality dawned and he decided to train to be a mechanic. His ambition then was to become a ‘professional' karting driver. He certainly had no inclination or desire to go to university and he became an apprentice at the local garage. Schumacher said: "The only thing I really concentrated on was go-karting." The mechanic's training was calculated in that ambition. He explains: "I was planning and preparing."

But his prized apprenticeship turned out to be mostly washing customers' cars – until Schumacher characteristically laid down his own rules, as he told Tim Collings: "I stood up and said ‘hey, guys, I'm not here to learn to wash cars. I'm here to learn to repair cars' and they said okay and I started to repair cars."

But by the time he was 19, he was too old for karting and in 1988 a move to cars was inevitable. When car racing became the only way forward, Dilk stepped in again buying him a Formula Ford drive for US$20,000 for 10 races and a few races in the German Formula Koenig championship. He was runner-up in the European Formula Ford 1600 series and sixth in the German series. In 1989 Dilk bought him a proper drive in the Koenig championship, but he was destined not to need it. He had been spotted by people with the contacts and the means to back him.

During 1988, Domingos Piedade, a racing enthusiast and a director of AMG, the Mercedes tuning company, spotted Schumacher in Formula Koenig. Piedade was a talent-spotter in his spare time and had been the first to recognise Ayrton Senna's ability. He was similarly convinced that Schumacher was the real thing. Piedade also had an advantage in that his two sons were racing in German karting and they told their father just how good Schumacher was.

Piedade telephoned Gerd Kramer who ran the Mercedes competitions department. Kramer organised a test for Schumacher with a Formula Three team run by Willi Weber called WTS. Weber's team had just won the 1988 German championship with Jo Winkelhock driving and needed a new driver. The test could not have gone any better, as Schumacher immediately lapped one-and-a-half seconds faster than Winkelhock in the same car. Piedale told Weber: "He is the one you want." Weber was convinced anyway and said: "Everything he did on the track was superior, playful and easy for him. I had to offer him that chance."

Weber wanted to offer Schumacher a contract there and then and to take over his management. Weber was in a good position as he was offering the drive free, with a salary. But with Dilk as his manager, Weber knew he had to tread carefully as by then the young Schumacher was a hot prospect and others were also interested. Initially Weber had no success trying to persuade Schumacher to switch managers.

 

And then the story became really complicated: already signed up for the second WTS car for 1989 was another German driver, Frank Schmickler. Schmickler had negotiated first refusal on his team-mate and could veto Schumacher if he wanted to. Schmickler was also the money-bags for the team. He was unofficially managed by journalist Burkhard Nuppeney, who had brought West cigarette sponsorship to the team. The German magazine Autobild also backed him. To get Schumacher, Weber had to persuade Schmickler, Nuppenny and Dilk to agree to what he wanted. Weber first persuaded Nuppeney, who had also been introduced to him by Gerd Kramer, and then asked him to intercede with Dilk and Schmickler.

As a sweetener Weber offered Nuppeney a deal on Schumacher's future earnings if he could persuade Schmickler to let Schumacher take the seat and to dump Dilk as his manager. At first Schmickler said no as he did not want a fast driver in the second seat. But Weber devised a solution and effectively swapped stakes in the management contracts. He told Nuppeney he would give him 10 per cent of Schumacher's future earnings as long as he in turn received 10 per cent of Schmickler's future earnings. That agreement was to be the subject of extended legal proceedings 15 years later. Nuppeney knew he had a tough sell.

 

Nuppeney arranged to meet Schumacher, with Schmickler present so the process was transparent for both drivers. He also had another stumbling block to negotiate, in that Schumacher was already signed to do Formula Koenig for 1989 by Dilk. Nuppeney negotiated a deal whereby Weber would buy Schumacher out of his management contract with Dilk and compensate him, which he did. He also arranged for Weber to finance Schumacher's career through to Formula One in return for a management contract that gave him 20 per cent of his earnings for 10 years. The deal guaranteed Schumacher two years in the WTS team with a small salary and a company car.

The contract was signed for 1989-98, with Weber's 20 per cent shrewdly including all income from retainers, personal sponsorships and endorsements, but excluding any prize money. Crucially the contract was with Weber only, and Nuppeney's contract was with Weber only. That didn't matter a lot then, but it was to matter a lot later. Schmickler started off the season very quick but was soon eclipsed by Schumacher. That was effectively the end of Schmickler's top-line career. Then the following season, 1990, Schumacher lifted the German Formula Three championship.

Off-track Weber and Nuppeney effectively managed Schumacher together. Nuppeney was very friendly with Gerd Kramer and got Schumacher a ride in the Sauber Mercedes sportscar team for 1990. Nuppeney pushed Schumacher towards Mercedes and he joined Sauber Mercedes full-time in 1991 as the car company took him under its wing. It was Nuppeney's last contribution.

But Formula One beckoned, and after he had won the championship, it was now a case of when and not if. The best prospect was a seat with Mercedes itself, as Jochen Neerpasch, the former IMG executive and Mercedes sporting chief, had hoped to enter Formula One. But it did not happen and Weber searched hard for an opening.

When the opportunity came, it was sudden and truly bizarre. On the eve of the Belgian Grand Prix Jordan's number two driver, Bertrand Gachot, was sentenced to prison in England after assaulting a London taxi driver. The sentence was harsh and totally unexpected, and it meant a seat was suddenly available. The Ford-engined Jordan was a competitive car; Gachot had set fastest lap of the race at the previous race in Hungary.

Weber was swiftly on the telephone to team owner Eddie Jordan, but he was unknown in Formula One circles and realised his limitations. So he hired the best manager he could find to handle the financial negotiations, which turned out to be Julian Jakobi, who managed Senna and Alain Prost at IMG.

Jakobi contacted Jordan, who asked for US$70,000 for one race. Jakobi proved his worth and quickly secured the money from his old colleague Neerpasch. But Jordan had no idea whether Schumacher was any good or not. Indeed when Weber had first phoned him, he had reportedly said: "Schumacher? Who the hell is he?" But US$70,000 was cheap for a drive, and as a safeguard, just in case Jordan wanted Schumacher to sign a long-term contract with the team, he said to the young German: "If you don't sign this, I'm not taking all the risk of putting you in a car and giving you your chance of Formula One if there is nothing in it for the company or the team."

Neither Schumacher nor Weber had any intention of doing that, but they badly wanted the drive. They agreed to sign a flimsy letter of intent, but Jakobi was smart enough to only sign a pre-contract agreement with Jordan as he had sensed from the beginning that Schumacher had a big future ahead of him. But before he finally got the drive, there was another snag to be overcome.

Schumacher successfully tested for Jordan on Tuesday 20th August 1991 at Silverstone, but Jordan then asked Weber if Schumacher had ever driven at the Spa-Francorchamps track. The implication was that Jordan would not risk his expensive car on a Spa novice. Weber admits now he did not tell Jordan the complete truth because he says Jordan did not ask the right question: "Eddie asked me if Michael had already been to Spa and I said ‘yes'. But Michael had never been in Spa driving. We needed to make this little lie to give him a chance and to ensure that Eddie gave him the drive. Otherwise he would have said the race circuit was too dangerous for a young man that had not been there." The follow-up question was also wrong: "He said to me that if Michael did not know Spa it was no good. So I told him he knew Spa like his home race." That was an even bigger fib, but Jordan swallowed it.

History shows that Schumacher jumped into Gachot's perfectly set up car, qualified seventh and only lasted seconds in the race before his car broke. But he had done enough in qualifying to assure his future.

The letter of intent Schumacher had signed with Jordan ran from 1992 to 1994. Eddie Jordan believed he had inadvertently signed the hottest property since Ayrton Senna. But the Irishman was about to learn some sharp financial lessons from people more shrewd and ruthless than he was. Jordan didn't realise that Schumacher had deliberately stalled in signing the contract and substituted the letter of intent, which when examined closely was binding on no one.

Weber hadn't wanted to sign anything but he knew Jordan would not have put Schumacher in the car without it. The letter was the weakest agreement they could get away with. In reality, he was happy to continue with Jordan for 1991 but not afterwards. For Jordan, the deal was a good one as he would also receive a cash sum from Mercedes-Benz, said to be as much as US$750,000 for the rest of the 1991 season. But Jordan wanted a commitment beyond that and rolled the dice believing Willi Weber had nowhere else to go. He was wrong. It turned out that Bernie Ecclestone was especially interested in Schumacher's future as he had been trying to crack the potentially highly lucrative German television market.

After his explosive debut performance, Schumacher came to England to test again for Jordan prior to the Italian Grand Prix two weeks later. Jordan booked and paid for a hotel room for Weber, but he never turned up – he had other things on his mind. After Ecclestone had tipped him off, Flavio Briatore wanted to sign Schumacher. Briatore was also encouraged by Tom Walkinshaw, a shareholder in Benetton who had spotted Schumacher's potential in sportscars. The three men worked together to wrestle him away from Jordan. The fact that Schumacher was happy to see 1991 out with Jordan suited Benetton as well, as it had the Brazilian Roberto Moreno under contract for its second drive.

But Jordan would have nothing of it and refused to let him drive unless Schumacher signed the long-term contract. So Weber flew to London for a secret meeting with Briatore and said it was now or never. Briatore chose now and Schumacher switched to Benetton, whilst an unknowing Eddie Jordan was insisting that the German was under his contract. Roberto Moreno was a casualty and was summarily fired despite his watertight contract. Benetton paid Moreno's salary to the end of the season and hoped he would go away quietly. All that was left was to inform Eddie Jordan of the news.

The following morning, a fax arrived from Michael Schumacher at Jordan's factory, which stated he would not be driving for Jordan again. The fax was hardly necessary as he was already testing that day for Benetton at Silverstone right under Jordan's nose.

Typically Eddie Jordan refused to accept it and there was a curious situation whereby Schumacher was entered for the Italian Grand Prix by two teams - Benetton and Jordan. At that stage it was by no means clear which he would drive for.

 

First Jordan attempted to get an injunction in London's High Court on the Thursday before the race to prevent Schumacher driving for Benetton. Predictably, this failed, but the situation was by no means over.

Jordan quickly discovered that the catalyst was the Benetton number two, Moreno, who had been sacked to make way for Schumacher. Moreno naturally approached Jordan for the vacant drive and after Jordan had heard his sorry tale actively encouraged him to sue Benetton for breach of contract and said he would help him do it. He told him to get an injunction stopping anyone else driving the car, which would mean Schumacher would have to return to Jordan.

Moreno, amazingly, advised by Jordan's solicitor Fred Rodgers, took action in the local court in Milan, and was successful in obtaining an injunction which prevented anyone but himself from driving the second Benetton.

Schumacher was in trouble at that stage as he was out of a drive. With the injunction Benetton could not put him in the car. And the comical situation was that both Jordan and Benetton had cars without drivers. It looked at that point as though Moreno would be reinstated and that Alex Zanardi would be called up to drive the second Jordan and Schumacher would be out of luck.

However the stalemate was the cue for Bernie Ecclestone, who had been called by Briatore for help, to get properly involved. He asked all the interested parties to meet at the Villa d'Este, near Monza on the Thursday evening before the race. Jordan believed he was in a strong position to reclaim Schumacher, but Ecclestone had other ideas about that. And as he moved between meetings of the key players, by then half of the Formula One grid, in the foyer of the hotel, he orchestrated a settlement. With glasses of wine and smoked salmon sandwiches, Ecclestone, Walkinshaw and Briatore launched a charm offensive on Jordan, who by this stage was unofficially advising Moreno. But the Irishman played hardball.

Ecclestone's attention shifted to Moreno, who he sensed was weaker. Finally Briatore offered Moreno an extra US$500,000 to go away. Eddie Jordan, now sensing weakness, advised him not to accept it. But Moreno caved in and took the money, opening up his seat for Schumacher. Jordan, now smelling outright defeat, agreed to take Moreno, charging him US$65,000 a race for the rest of the season.

 

Schumacher signed a four-and-a-half year deal with Benetton that saw him paid US$2.5 million a year from the start of 1992.

Schumacher duly drove for Benetton for the rest of 1991, scoring four points and coming 12th in the championship. But even then the contractual problems were not completely over. No one knew that Schumacher had signed a third Formula One contract with Sauber Mercedes. It turned out that he had an existing contract with Mercedes, through Sauber, that gave the car company priority over any other team should it return to Formula One. On Wednesday 5th February 1992, Peter Sauber issued an unexpected press release through Mercedes-Benz that said Sauber was to enter Formula One in 1993 with Ilmor V10 engines and a driver line-up of Karl Wendlinger and Schumacher.

There was a clause in the contract that, in the event of written notification from Mercedes that it intended to enter Mercedes cars in Formula One, it could recover Schumacher's contract. But no such notification was ever received. Peter Sauber made a mistake. He had not given Schumacher advance written notice of his intention. And the Mercedes involvement with Sauber was limited to supplying an engine. Benetton issued a press release saying it had "an exclusive Formula One driver agreement with Michael Schumacher which gives Benetton Formula the option on his driving services for Formula One racing up to and including the 1995 Grand Prix racing season." Peter Sauber withdrew his claim and the storm was over as quickly as it had started.

In 1992, flush with his new salary and subsequent tax problems in Germany, Schumacher moved to Monte Carlo with his new girlfriend Corinna Betsch and his west highland terrier dog called Jenny. They took a lease on an apartment in the port of Fontvielle. They drove to the principality is his old British Leyland Mini; as he got richer he acquired a fleet of cars including a Mercedes 500SL, a Ferrari F40 and a Bugatti.

In 1992 he impressed again with a maiden victory in Belgium and an amazing third in the championship, with 54 points, in his first full season, beating out Ayrton Senna. Brimming with success he bought his first jet, a Cessna Citation worth US$3 million. In 1993 he sparkled again but in a more competitive season could only manage fourth in the championship, with 52 points, but with another win in Portugal.

At the end of 1993, Ron Dennis attempted to sign Schumacher to replace Ayrton Senna who was out of contract. Dennis sensed there might be a break clause in the Benetton contract that he could exploit. Dennis's offer was thought to be around US$8 million a year, some three times Schumacher's current salary. But Schumacher had settled into Benetton and made the team his own, he did not want to leave. He was by that time very comfortable with Ross Brawn and Nigel Stepney as his engineers. He said: "I prefer it. There is no political manoeuvring. I have the team's full support. They give me real warmth and I feel like one of the family."

But he was surprised to find out how much he was worth on the open market and how much he was actually being paid. He admitted at the time that Dennis's offer was "unsettling". But Dennis was undone by Honda when it announced it was withdrawing from Formula One, leaving McLaren with only a Cosworth alternative. Briatore knew that these engines would be contractually inferior to Benetton's and made the advantage stick.

Sensing his driver's new worth, Willi Weber sought to renegotiate the existing contract which still had two years to run, as Schumacher said at the time: "They have a very cheap driver and they knew they could not keep paying me that amount, so they made changes for me." In December 1993 he signed a new three-year deal from 1994 to 1996. It was worth US$8 million a year, the same as he had been offered by Dennis. It was no surprise as by the end of his third season Schumacher was the hottest and, after Senna, the most sought after driver in the sport.

And so it turned out. After Ayrton Senna's death, he had no real challengers as a driver. The 1994 championship was his – although only after a series of incidents where the team was suspected of cheating, which undermined his confidence – and after Ferrari started showing interest in his driver and talking telephone number salaries, Weber took that opportunity to start negotiations with other teams and revise the contract again.

From being a novice in 1991, Weber had come into his own as a Formula One driver manager by 1994. He sensed a deal with Ferrari would be worth untold millions from merchandising and personal sponsorship, as well as a salary worth two and a half times what Benetton was paying. He played hardball: "We told the Benetton team in writing that we will not continue driving under the current conditions," he said. The team answered by saying "Weber is not in a position to make such a claim". In the end, Benetton had to concede. In matters not fully explained, the three-year contract to the end of 1996 was changed to a one-year contract until the end of 1995. It eventually emerged that in 1994, Ferrari had offered Ayrton Senna a US$22 million-a-year deal to join it from 1996 onwards. In Julian Jakobi's opinion it was an offer Senna would have accepted. After Senna died, Ferrari simply offered the same contract to Schumacher, and he took it, extricating himself from Benetton, but not before winning two championships.

It turned out that Ferrari team principal, Jean Todt, had been desperate to sign Schumacher ever since he had arrived at Ferrari in June 1993. He says: "It was natural for me to keep a very close eye on his career at the moment I was beginning the task of rebuilding Ferrari." Todt admits talks only began with Schumacher after Senna died and it was agreed at the end of 1994 he would join. The deal was finally signed on Saturday 8th July 1995 in the Hotel de Paris in Monaco. Todt admits the final negotiations lasted all day, some 12 hours, at the end of which they signed a heads of agreement. The deal thrashed out was heavily in Schumacher's favour, giving him a huge salary, space on his overalls, unlimited opportunity to do personal sponsorship deals and total control of his own merchandise including, crucially, the right to use the valuable Ferrari logo and colours. It was a licence to print money and proof of how much Weber had learnt about Formula One. He took Jean Todt to the cleaners.

Three weeks later Schumacher celebrated his new wealth by marrying his long-time girlfriend Corinna on 1st August in a private ceremony near Bonn in Germany. They sold the photographic rights of the wedding for a small fortune to German magazine Bunte. Schumacher told them to send the entire fee to Unesco. It was his first big charitable donation, set to be the first of many.

They also decided to leave Monte Carlo and move to Switzerland to start a family. His success had made it difficult to live a quiet life in Monte Carlo and they chose Geneva as a new base. Schumacher said: "I had been told that Switzerland was the only place where celebrities can live without being bothered, and it's turned out to be perfectly true." After first renting to see if they liked it, they bought a relatively modest house in the village of Vufflens-le- Chateau and quickly built a huge garage, nearly as big as the house itself, for his car collection. The garden was huge and enabled Corinna to indulge all her fantasies of country living. In hindsight it is not immediately obvious, other than the huge financial enticement, why Schumacher wanted to go to Ferrari in 1996. After all, at the time it was a place of which Gerhard Berger famously said: "Stand outside the Ferrari factory and you wonder why Ferrari doesn't win every race. Stand inside and you wonder how they manage to win any."

Schumacher was undoubtedly persuaded by Todt's passion and Weber's commercial vision. The deal Weber had signed allowed Schumacher unprecedented freedom commercially. Weber had realised that with Ferrari as his team, he could leverage that into huge personal sponsorship and merchandise deals. Weber had big plans which at their peak, in 1999, would earn him over US$70 million in a single season.

Weber's finest hour was negotiating the concession that Schumacher would have the right to use the Ferrari brand on his merchandise. It was worth tens of millions of dollars, as Schumacher's own virtually identical branded merchandise overtook the sales of the official factory team merchandise. Weber was in his element and started something called ‘The Michael Schumacher Collection'. It included over 200 pieces of licensed merchandise and a magazine.

By the end of their marathon negotiating session in Monaco, Todt was mightily impressed with Schumacher. He says: "In just one day I discovered a man imbued with all the qualities that the Scuderia had a right to expect: determination, professionalism, simplicity and rigour." But Todt was most impressed by his maturity, as he says: "Michael impressed me because of his exceptional maturity for his age. Michael is a relentless worker who gives all of himself; he cares about the needs of others which, if you will agree, is rare in Formula One."

In fact it was the first day of a friendship that over 12 years grew exceptionally close, as Todt, in his own inimitable style, confesses: "Our collaboration turned into complicity and then blossomed into friendship."

Ferrari was certainly down on its luck when Schumacher arrived in 1996. But after Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne followed from Benetton, there were signs of improvement. Marlboro sponsorship of nearly US$80 million meant enormous sums were suddenly available to put the team right. Although Schumacher had to wait five seasons to win the championship again, his talent shone through and he began the resurgence immediately, finishing third in the championship with 59 points and victories in Spain, Belgium and Italy. But he was wrestling an uncompetitive car around the track. On the personal level, his life couldn't have been better, as the family settled in Switzerland and Corinna became pregnant for the first time; 1997 saw the arrival of his daughter Gina Maria. He also sold the Cessna and bought a Challenger jet that enabled him to cross oceans and travel in more comfort albeit at a cost of around US$12 million.

The comfortable family-oriented lifestyle suited him and in 1997 he scored 78 points for second in the championship, which he narrowly lost to Jacques Villeneuve. In only his second season, and with the Williams team dominant, Schumacher scored an amazing five victories, in Monaco, Canada, France, Hungary and Japan. Losing out on the championship at the final round was still a bitter disappointment. At the final race in Jerez, it had ended in trouble when he tried to sabotage Villeneuve by running him off the track. In the end it was him who was run off and officially his second place in the championship was taken away by the FIA and doesn't exist in the record books. To many, that was a more than lenient punishment.

In 1998 he finished second again with 86 points and five victories, in Argentina, Canada, France, England and Italy. The following season, 1999, was to be his last bridesmaid year, and he could only finish fifth in the championship after breaking his leg halfway through the season. But the combination of his and team-mate Eddie Irvine's scores was enough to give Ferrari its first constructors' championship for 21 years.

In 1999 he also started a new contract with the team after his initial one expired. It was even more lucrative and one-sided than the first, if that was possible. But by then Ferrari was in love with Schumacher. He was easily the most powerful person in Formula One. He could have what he wanted and at the peak of his powers, Willi Weber was able to negotiate a huge rise in his basic retainer to a rumoured US$32.5 million. Additionally he was able to keep all his merchandise rights and allowed plenty of latitude with his personal sponsorship contracts.

1999 was also the year his merchandise took off and millions of items of Schumacher-branded Ferrari merchandise started to be sold. In particular, the famous Schumacher caps sold in their millions, at premium prices. It gave him enough money to pay cash for a US$21 million jet, the latest Falcon 2000, the same model as Bernie Ecclestone and Gerhard Berger had. He also renewed his 10-year management contract with Willi Weber and showed his appreciation for his manager's services by leaving his commission on his salary at 20 per cent, although Weber agreed to take 10 per cent from his other income. The partnership had been an amazing success, earning Weber US$40 million to that point.

And it all started to go very right on the track. After four warm-up years, the records started to fall, with five straight championships from 2000 to 2004 and a glorious finale year in 2006 when he narrowly lost the championship to Fernando Alonso. 2005 was to be the only disappointment, when for a combination of reasons notably personnel changes and tyres, the Ferrari F2005 was a car that even he could not sort out.

In the middle of that there was a final contract negotiation. Luca di Montezemolo, the Ferrari chairman, realised just how much money Schumacher was making from licensing what was effectively Ferrari merchandise. It was outselling the official factory merchandise and clearly an untenable situation. Montezemolo was determined to retrieve the merchandise rights back from Weber. But he had to pay a very heavy price to do so. Weber was growing tired of the business anyway and sensed it was poised for a downturn so he was not unhappy when Ferrari offered his driver US$45 million a year including the sole rights to Schumacher/Ferrari merchandise. Ferrari was glad to get the rights back and did successive deals with Fila and Puma to exploit them. But the renegotiation left a bitter taste in Montezemolo's mouth and a few years later he was to get his revenge.

Schumacher spent some of his new cash, US$10 million, on his own 32-acre farm in the green hills of Lac Leman near Geneva. It came after he had been forced to abort a purchase in the German-speaking region of Switzerland in Appenzel, when planning permission for a heliport and garage he wanted to install was refused after a local environmentalist mounted a protest.

Meanwhile his personal sponsorship roster had increased to over a dozen companies. His prime sponsor was German bank Deutsche Vermogensberatung, which paid a much-reported US$2.8 million every year to be on his cap. For the last few years of his career, personal sponsors were contributing US$10 million to his income and included RTL Television, Omega watches, L'Oreal cosmetics, AMD, OMP, Shell, Schuberth, Vodafone, Piaggio Aero and Puma.

Unsurprisingly, in the last few years of his career his income plateaued, settling down to around US$60 million. Schumacher now had more money than he knew what to do with.

His final take from 12 seasons was at least US$600 million, possibly much more. It was five times what any driver had earned before him. A large proportion of that has been given away. Although Schumacher never discusses his charity work others occasionally let slip what he does and inevitably public records reveal some details. It is clear his charity giving has so far totalled at least US$50 million. He has been a keen supporter of Unesco and people who should know estimate he has steered US$3 million in its direction. His biggest contribution was US$10 million to the Asian Tsunami survivors' fund. He has also built schools in Sarajevo and orphanages in Peru. He also gives individual sums to funds set up after natural disasters, sums that are never less than US$1 million.

The final contract with Ferrari was a two-year extension, on the same terms signed for 2005 and 2006. It was the first time Weber had not been able to negotiate an increase and reflected that for the first time Schumacher's power was waning at Ferrari.

Montezemolo had become jealous at the personal relationship Todt and Schumacher had. Insiders believe he had by then begun plotting to get rid of Schumacher at the end of 2006 - especially so after the two men had vetoed his plans in around 2000 to sign double world champion Mika Häkkinen as his team-mate. Finally, in 2006, Montezemolo put Schumacher in a virtually impossible position when he imposed Kimi Räikkönen as his team-mate, and the great German elected to retire.

There has never before been a driver like Michael Schumacher, and there will never be another driver-team relationship like his and Ferrari's. Jean Todt has described those 12 seasons as "that of a dream team". The relationship with Todt became extraordinarily close, rivalling anything he had with his parents. Schumacher described it as "a blind understanding between us. We are more than colleagues, we are friends and that is rarer in this business. When I arrived at Ferrari at the end of 1995 I expected many things, but not that I would find a friend for life in Jean Todt."

And Schumacher looks after his friends. He has never forgotten the man who made it all possible, Jurgen Dilk. Dilk was given the lucrative task of founding the official Michael Schumacher fan-club and became its first president. Dilk remembers his protégé fondly: "He is a wonderful person. Everything I have given him back through those years, from my heart, he has given me back."

Now, having finally severed his ties with Ferrari, Schumacher has been unable to resist one last hurrah. The lure of a drive at the new Mercedes team, managed by his old friend Ross Brawn, was too attractive to turn down. However it turns out, Michael Schumacher's return to Formula One is certain to be one of the sporting stories of 2010

 

Та така. Мамини синчета с милиони и синчета на СШ НИКОГА НЯМА да се докоснат и до 1/1000000000000000000000000000 от успеха на М.Шумахер. Нико Росберг също ще изпита на свой гръб какво е да имаш съотборник-машина.

[DON_CHEFO]

Възможно е във Ф1 да предстои истински прецедент, тъй като след завръщането на Михаел Шумахер, сега има възможност да се завърне и един от конкурентите му за титлата през 90-те години - Жак Вилньов. Канадецът е един от възможните пилоти за тима на Стефан GP, но пък все още не е ясно дали този отбор ще успее да се включи в шампионата тази година.

 

И двамата пилоти се отказаха преди три години, а и вече са на сериозна за този спорт възраст, но въпреки това шансът те отново да се изправят един срещу друг на пистата, е съвсем реален.

 

"Преди година, всички си мислеха, че Барикело е възрастен пилот. Той е само с половин година по-млад от мен, де ла Роса е на моята възраст, а Михаел е с три години по-стар.

 

В последните години много млади пилоти минаха през Ф1. Някои, като Алонсо и Фетел, са добри. Други пък се изгубиха в хоризонта, защото дойдоха във Ф1 прекалено рано. Междувременно повечето отбори изведнъж разбраха, че да имаш само млади пилоти, не е решение - трябва ти добър микс. А идеалната комбинация е един млад и един опитен пилот. По този начин младият има с какво да се сравнява, тъй като в противен случай той няма да знае къде се намира", заяви Вилньов.

 

А попитан какво мисли за това, че би могъл отново да се изправи срещу Шуми на пистата, той отвърна:

 

"Това ще бъде абсолютна лудост!

 

Въпреки че не винаги сме се разбирали, неговите качества са извън всякакво съмнение. За всички пилоти той бе абсолютното предизвикателство - всеки искаше да се изправи срещу човека, който е спечелил най-много победи и титли. Той все още има същото въздействие и знае какво иска."

[DON_CHEFO]

Не, че нещо.....ама не остана :)

[chistacha]

Две седмици, така като гледам

[RaptoR]

Гответе се да открием сезона подобаващо!

 

 

[DON_CHEFO]

Някой ще направили прогноза?

 

Ей я мойта:

1 Ферари

2 Ред Бул/Мерцедес

4 Мкл

5 През шланга ми е хихихи

[chistacha]

Мойта прогноза за сезона е:

1. Бира

2. Скара

3. Малки ракийки

[vinyl_master]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPqm7RjgtVY&feature=player_embedded

Баси смеха майна хахахах ужассс..

[host]

Renault F1 удари дъното. Лада има стават спонсор >

http://www.dnevnik.bg/sport/avto-moto/2010/03/02/866996_lada_shte_sponsorira_reno_vuv_formula_1/?ref=rss

[RaptoR]

Мойта прогноза за сезона е:

1. Бира

2. Скара

3. Малки ракийки

 

Великолепна прогноза! Добавям и салати в чест на ракийките.

[DON_CHEFO]

Renault F1 удари дъното. Лада има стават спонсор >

http://www.dnevnik.bg/sport/avto-moto/2010/03/02/866996_lada_shte_sponsorira_reno_vuv_formula_1/?ref=rss

И Матешиц ги е сложил на "смъртния одър"

[jozo]

Renault F1 удари дъното. Лада има стават спонсор >

http://www.dnevnik.b...mula_1/?ref=rss

 

 

Само дето "държавният производител Лада" от миналата година са собственост на 25% от "държавната френска фирма Рено". http://www.dnevnik.b...itelia_na_lada/ Рено са собственик на завода.

Edited March 3, 2010 by jozo

[DON_CHEFO]

Както вика един познат. Май, май Истанбул си заминава за сметка на Москва ГП.

[host]

Само дето "държавният производител Лада" от миналата година са собственост на 25% от "държавната френска фирма Рено". http://www.dnevnik.b...itelia_na_lada/ Рено са собственик на завода.

 

И извода е? Комунисти.

[RaptoR]

И извода е? Комунисти.

 

Какви са тия "мъдри" размисли от тебе?

 

----------------------------

 

Някои изобщо няма да започнат сезона - ХОП!

[host]

Ами за мен не е ок GazProm да купи място на даден пило, после да купи и част от отбора. Точно както и не харесвах Спайкър, защото зад тях бяха паричките на един руски милярдер със съмнително минало. Още повече помним великите творения на заводите обект на интерес. Колкото повече политика се вкарва във F1 и то на такова високо ниво (човека държава В. Путин), толкова по-зле за нас феновете и за шампионата.

[jozo]

Ами за мен не е ок GazProm да купи място на даден пило, после да купи и част от отбора. Точно както и не харесвах Спайкър, защото зад тях бяха паричките на един руски милярдер със съмнително минало. Още повече помним великите творения на заводите обект на интерес. Колкото повече политика се вкарва във F1 и то на такова високо ниво (човека държава В. Путин), толкова по-зле за нас феновете и за шампионата.

 

То да ти кажа дали ще е В. Путин или Б. Екълстоун на мен ми е все тая.Единият поне не е толкова алчен за пари, а за власт

[Godfather]

То да ти кажа дали ще е В. Путин или Б. Екълстоун на мен ми е все тая.Единият поне не е толкова алчен за пари, а за власт

Аха, в някое общество на извънземни властта и парите може и да са различни агрегатни състояния, но при човеците това все още са два неразривно свързани компонента.

[DREBNIA]

Остава една седмица още мъкаааа, да почва че нямам търпения. За мое огромно съжелени, мисля, че Алонсо ще вземе първия старт